LINCOLN'S  Ellsworth  Letter 

MAY  25th.  1861 


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ABRAHAM  UNCOLN 

(Meserve  No.  35) 


LINCOLN'S 

Ellsworth  Letter 


AND  ALSO  THE  LAST  LETTER 
FROM  COLONEL  ELLSWORTH 
TO  HIS  FATHER  AND  MOTHER 


Privately  Printed 

NEW    YORK 

1916 


Foreword. 


ON  May  24th,  1861,  a  month  and  a  half 
after  Sumter  surrendered  and  nearly  two 
months  before  the  first  battle  of  Bull  Run,  Pres- 
ident Lincoln's  friend.  Colonel  Ephraim  Elmer 
Ellsworth  was  shot  in  Alexandria,  Virginia,  by 
Jackson,  the  proprietor  of  the  Marshall  House, 
after  the  impetuous  young  man  had  torn  down 
a  confederate  flag  from  the  top  of  the  building. 
His  body  was  taken  to  the  White  House  and 
lay  in  state  in  the  ELast  Room.  He  was  the  first 
officer  killed  in  the  War  of  the  Rebellion.  The 
President  on  the  following  day  wrote  a  letter  of 
sympathy  to  the  sorrowing  father  and  mother. 

Ellsworth  was  a  New  York  boy.  At  the 
age  of  twenty-two  he  was  Adjutant-General  of 
the  State  of  Illinois.  In  1859  he  studied  law 
in  Lincoln's  office  in  Springfield.  He  organized 
in  Chicago  the  military  company  known  as 
Ellsworth's  Zouaves,  and  in  I  860  toured  the 
country  holding  competitive  drills  with  various 
military  organizations.  When  Lincoln  came  to 
Washington  Ellsworth  accompanied  him,  and 
in  April  in  New  York  he  organized  and,  although 
but  twenty-four,  became  the  Colonel  of  the  I  I  th 


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New  York  Infantry,  known  as  the  Fire  Zouaves, 
as  the  regiment  was  recruited  principally  from 
the  Fire  Department  of  New  York  City. 

This  beautiful  tribute  is  perhaps  the  most 
touching  of  all  the  letters  written  by  Lincoln. 
He  was  writing  of  a  man  whom  he  knew  and 
loved.  The  letter  does  not  reach  the  lofty  tone 
of  that  to  Mrs.  Bixby  of  Boston,  or  the  Gettys- 
burg address,  but  in  the  choice  of  fitting  words 
to  stricken  parents  regarding  a  son  and  personal 
friend,  few  letters  have  ever  been  written  that 
may  compare  with  it. 

By  the  courtesy  of  Mr.  Judd  Stewart,  in 
whose  notable  collection  of  Lincolniana  is  the 
original  letter,  a  fac-simile  is  shown  here. 

The  photograph  of  Lincoln  is  printed  di- 
rectly from  a  negative,  believed  to  be  the  origi- 
nal, made  by  C.  S.  German,  in  Springfield, 
Illinois,  early  in  1  86 1 ,  just  before  the  President- 
elect went  to  Washington.  That  of  Ellsworth 
is  printed  directly  from  the  original  negative 
made  by  M.  B.  Brady,  probably  during  the  time 
when  the  Fire  Zouaves  were  being  organized. 

Frederick  Hill  Meserve. 

New  York,  Februaiy  15,1916. 


The  Letter 


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Fac-simile  of  the  original  letter  in 
the  Collection  of  Judd  Stewart 


E.  ELMER  ELLSWORTH 

Colonel  11  th  N.Y.  Infantry 


THE  LETTER  FROM  COLONEL 
ELLSWORTH  TO  HIS  FATHER 
AND  MOTHER  WRITTEN  ON  THE 
NIGHT  BEFORE  HIS  DEATH. 


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Twenty-five  copies  aie  printed  containing 
the  facsimile  of  the  Lincoln  letter,  and  also 
life  photographs  of  Lincoln  and  Ellsworth, 
and  in  addition  a  photographic  copy  of 
the  last  letter  of  Ellsworth  to  his  parents. 


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